Pensions woes

Restoring or creating confidence in occupational pensions seems likely to become the next major controversy, as attention this month focused particularly on the former Turner & Newall pension plan, where dramatic benefit reductions for members imminently to retire are threatened. This seemed likely to put further pressure on government to make rescue funds available ahead of the introduction of the Pensions Protection Fund. The case gained significant press and radio coverage, and it seems at least possible that the parlous state of the UK’s formerly very successful pensions industry will become an important political issue.